One of the very popular songs sung by Mercy Me is "I can only Imagine" which was written when the bands frontman lost his father after a battle from cancer. Recently, though, I listened to an interview with Bart Millard (that "frontman") about a more recent song entitled "Finally Home" and that made the song more personal. He shared the emotion behind the song in an article shared at New Release Today:
Please tell the story behind the song "Finally Home."
"Finally Home" was a last minute addition while we were writing for our
last record. We still get so many comments about "I Can Only Imagine,"
written about my father after he passed away from cancer when I was 19.
Lately, people have been asking if we are getting tired of the song. I
am more invested in watching the reaction of people to the song than I
am about myself anymore. The first few years of the song were for me,
but ever since, the song has been for everyone else. Because of that, I
wrote the lyrics "I’m gonna wrap my arms around my daddy’s neck and tell him that I’ve missed him,"
and I realized at that point, as I fell apart, that I haven't tapped
into that emotion in a long time and didn't realize that I had so much
emotion still pent up inside me. The guys and I were all crying as we
wrote the song.
What's the main message and reaction you’ve received to the song?
It is very therapeutic for me. We call it the closure to "I Can Only
Imagine." The song bookends the concept of singing about my relationship
with my father. That's why the song was written.
He talked more about how he can't wait to share with his dad all that he has done since his father passed away and how he can't wait to see him again. That interview brought new meaning to the song to me and helped my understand why it was written.
